Thanks Moggy,

It suddenly came to me whilst writing the post that anyone (including me) can play pilots at pretty much anytime these days thanks to the plethora of PC-based games/simulations.

Back in my youth the three or four days I had to wait until I could next get behind the controls of that Link seemed to drag on for ever 🙁 , and the ten or fifteen minutes in it were pure magic when they did arrive 🙂 . I could never understand why many of the other air cadets weren’t interested in flying it – though I never complained as it meant more “stick time” for those of us that were 😎 .

Now if I could only combine the touchy-feely nature of that Link with the graphics and processing power of a decent PC game and I’m onto a winner….what do you mean Redifusion/Marconi/Thales et al all got there first…😡 .

Paul F

Working Link Trainers

The ATC Squadron in Woking, Surrey (UK) had a fully functioning Link trainer in the late 70’s, which was still working when I attended a reunion in the late 80’s or early 1990’s. Don’t know if it’s still there, or if its still working. Many other ATC squadrons also had them at about that time.

At one stage the Woking unit were thinking of replacing the crab and it’s table with a more “modern” X/Y plotter, (remember the late 70’s was pretty much before the widespread availibility of desk-top PC’s – though I guess many forumites can’t imagine life without PC’s 😮 ).

I spent many happy hours flying that Link, learning ILS/beam approaches, fighting against variable, and often unpredictable wind directions and speeds (when the guys on the desk got bored they simply fed in a new wind direction and strength, leading the poor “pilot” to wonder why his near perfect ILS readings were suddenly going haywire 😀 ).

We even had an annual “fly-off” competiton for a nice mounted Spitfire trophy, which the winner kept for a year before returning it. The competiiton involved flying a predetermined pattern using stopwatch, ASI, art horizon, Turn and Slip, and compass bearings whilst completely isolated “under the hood”. After maybe half an hour each in the cramped, dimly lit, warm, and very stuffy interior we each emerged dripping wet, and all the competitiors then analysed the crab traces of each competitors attempt and agreed a winner. The lucky winner also got to keep one of a diminishing stock of prints of a Spitfire, each of which had been signed by none other than Jeffrey Quill himself. My Link skills were never quite up to winning one of those 🙁 .

I also remember the long wait while the 1940-vintage valves (remember them? None of those new fangled transistor thingies) had to warm up before the unit could be used, and the horrible noise the unit made if it was allowed to “stall”, and the whole “cockpit” unit suddenly fell forward onto the stops from it’s nose-high attitude. Heavens knows what that sort of treatment did to the bellows units – needless to say it was frowned upon. The spare valves themselves were treated like golddust, as spares were near impossible to find, and once spare valves were gone then the unit was likely to be scrapped.

I guess perhaps the unit has since had their electronics upgraded – but with so many youngsters having access to Flight Sims on their home PC’s these days I wonder if anyone really enjoys the Link as much as we did in those days when it was our only regular chance to play pilots.

Happy days…

Paul F

B25’s and CASA 352s together

I would second/third the Blackbushe suggestion.

Have been meaning to dig out, scan and post some of my own photos from that period. At one stage there was a whole line of CASA 352s (four or five examples?), B25s (three or four?) and a couple of DC-3s lined up on the grass there.

B-25s had just completed Hanover Street, and the ‘352s and DC3s had just been purchesd form the Spanish Airforce as they were retired.

In the late sevenites and early eighties a visit to Blackbushe was well worthwhile as you never new what exotic species (or how many of them)you’d find sitting on the apron when you arrived. Will post photos in due course.

Cheers

Paul F

What about:

Northeast (IIRC) with their Tridents and Viscounts – planes long since retired, and all traces of the airline long since lost in the bowels of BA….

British Caledonian, BAC 1-11s, VC10’s etc and not forgetting their stewardess’ uniforms 😉 (Oops, sorry, far too un-PC to say that these days :diablo: )

Laker Skytrain – DC10s and cheap flights to USA

Court Lines with their lurid BAC One Elevens and Tristars

Oops, starting to show my age now…

Paul F

A20 Size

Similar size to a B25 – see pics in link on first post.

Paul F

Driving in India

The video clip just about sums it up – just got back from my second business strip to Bangalore in the last 12 months – it’s one place where I am more than happy to sit in the back of the car and keep my mouth (and eyes 😮 )shut! They put their faith in their god(s) and just go for it, eventually you get used to the fact that although they nominally drive on the left, in fact they use whichever part of the road appears to give them room, left, right, pavements – even driving on the wrong side of a dual carriageway (i.e. into the oncoming traffic). Add in roads that vary from smooth tarmac to unmade dust (and often back again in the space of half a mile), slow moving tractors, bullock carts, hand carts, tuk-tuks, lorrys carrying loads twice as wide and four times as tall as the truck itself, and of course, the sacred cows that are free to wander wherever they like – both in the countryside and in the city itself and the driving experience makes for a good white knuckle ride. I tried to take a few video clips myself, but the roads were so rough I often couldn’t keep the camera steady.

I met an ex colleague over there who has a 14 month old Ford “Ikon” (the model sold as a Focus here in UK), which is already on it’s third set of suspension units. That’s what the video cannot convey, just how rough the roads can be, especially outside the cities. Some are so bad even the CRV I was travelling in had to crawl along in low gear in order to negotiate the pot holes.

I don’t remember ever seeing an accident or a dented car in my two weeks over there, so either their driving skills are up to the conditions, or the fact that repairs are so cheap means that accident damage is quickly repaired.

One of the local guys I visited summed the traffic situation up with “As you can see from the roads, we do have Law in India, but we do not have Order!”

Paul F

“Gibson Girls”

The shape of the box itself was such because it was designed to fit between your thighs while you turned the dynamo handle on the top to generate some current for the emergency radio. The dynamo handle was fairly stiff to crank, being fairly highly geared, and the whole thing made a typical dynamo whirring/grinding noise once up to speed.

Hence, as I was once told by an ex-RAF bomber pilot, they were called Gibson Girls “…because you had to put them between your legs and grind away on them“. 😮

Not very politically correct, but thats the way things were in those dim dark days, sorry ladies. 😮

As to running 100yds in a dinghy to launch the kite, I’m sure that the Air ministry would have thought to provide “Shoes, Running, floatable – Aircrew (ditched) for the use of.”

Paul F

And shouldn’t it be a motor-TRIcycle :dev2: anyway? I counted three wheels, not two!

Paul F (being picky as usual 😀 )